The invention relates to gas turbines and, more particularly, to a swirler assembly in a gas turbine combustor including an air circuit in the swirler vanes that directs compressor discharge air to a low pressure side of the swirler vanes.
In a gas turbine combustor, compressed air from the compressor and fuel are mixed upstream of a combustion zone. A swirler assembly includes circumferentially spaced apart vanes for swirling and mixing the compressed air flow and the fuel passing therethrough.
The swirler assemblies, also described as swozzle assemblies, may have flame holding margins limited by flow deficits on a suction side of the vane turning region. This reduced flame holding margin and locally enriched air/fuel regions reduce the performance of the combustor.